As per what was discussed, Chicago Open 2009 will be held on Saturday, July 25th, 2009 (technically pending university approval), with side events being run on Saturday night and Sunday. Those events will be announced separately. The fee schedule is as follows:

Base Fee: $120

If your packet is submitted to ekwartler at gmail dot com by 11:59 PM CST on:

May 16th: -$40
May 23rd: -$20
May 30th: no penalty
June 7th: +$20
June 14th: +$40

If your packet is received after June 14th, the fee is $200 and you are ineligible to receive any of the discounts listed below. Acceptance of your packet at all is subject to the discretion of the editors. If you don't submit a packet or it's unbelievably late, the penalty will be some large and arbitrary amount of money, and you will become my enemy.

Discounts

Buzzers: -$5 for every buzzer used
Moderators: I am dubious of any chicago open team's claim to have "brought" a moderator, but if that somehow legitimately happens, -$10 per moderator used.
Laptops: -$10, limit of one discount per team, though teams are welcome to provide more than one should we need them.
Incomplete teams: I will lower the base entry fee for any team composed of fewer than four players, but such teams are still responsible for submitting full packets.

Distribution and Difficulty

EDIT: The distribution will be standard ACF with one exception: teams are not required to include geography questions. Instead, we're going to have a 1/1 "academic other" category. This can include geography, but teams are encouraged to use the 1/1 "other" to get creative with their subjects. Cross-disciplinary questions, things that don't really fit anywhere else but are worth asking about, etc.

Most of you know the approximate difficulty level Chicago Open packets should be, so I'll only say this: fun and exciting extra-difficult answers are welcomed and even encouraged, but don't fill your packet with them (I'm looking at you, Andrew Hart). Also, if you don't adhere to the standard formatting guidelines, your packet will be returned and my wrath will know no bounds. You may correct and resubmit the packet, and your fee will be determined by the date of resubmission. If you repeatedly fail to comply, you will be charged more money for your douchebaggery. If you have questions about how your packet should be formatted, feel free to ask. Seriously, people, it's ridiculous that we have to keep mentioning formatting. There's no excuse for getting it wrong.

As soon as you have a team put together, please email me to let me know. You may select a team name or we can provide one for you. Also feel free to use this thread to discuss possible team configurations. I'll post field updates as I have them.

Frank Firke and I are looking for teammates, I think, so talk to me at my username @gmail.com or elsewhere if you're interested. A spot will be reserved for Quentin Roper if he wants to team up/take care of science again.

I'd also like to announce that Trygve Meade will be editing social science and philosophy. That brings the group to me, Gautam Kandlikar, Wesley Matthews, and Trygve. I still want a history editor; email me if you're interested.

evilmonkey wrote:After the eye-opening experience of last year's CO, I realized that I need another couple of years before I can compete on that level. So I will staff.

If you want to staff that's fine, but as someone who has scored 10 ppg or lower at several masters tournaments, I personally don't think "not being able to compete on that level" should preclude someone from playing the tournament.

I'm guessing most readers of this thread will be aware of this, but I wanted to underscore the fact that I've announced this year's CO trash event -- the Ferdinand Tönnies Memorial Trash Tournament ("Gemeinschaft und Abfall") -- in the Trash forum.

I'm a history player who's looking for a team. Pretty much history only, though I pick things up here and there. Ideally I might be also looking for a spot for Nick Polk, who provides some history, lit, art, and judaica.

I plan to beef up on my science this summer so by the time this tournament roles around, I would probably call myself a "science player." I also pretty much only know Latin American and Spanish history/literature, but that can get a few points here and there.

Jeremy Gibbs Lemma wrote:I plan to beef up on my science this summer so by the time this tournament roles around, I would probably call myself a "science player." I also pretty much only know Latin American and Spanish history/literature, but that can get a few points here and there.

If you don't care much about winning and enjoy writing 5/5 science, then the Cheyne/Firke/Gehring team should have a spot for you.

That sounds good to me... I demand FUN from teammates... can you meet that requirement?

I have to make sure I can get the money to come and that it doesn't interfere at all with the courses I am taking this summer but I will definitely write the 5/5 science. I'll let you know ASAP but I don't think money will be a huge issue as I should have a friend to stay with.

I am seeing if I can get my teammates from NAQT interested in going. This would be our first circuit event and first tournament using and writing ACF-style questions. If we participate, be prepared to have to edit our packet a lot!

Bentley Like Beckham wrote:
I've heard through the grapevine that Guy is looking for a different team, so maybe that Evan Adams et al team wants me as a fourth? If not I'll continue looking for teammates with you, Greg.

That would be great Mike. I'll get in touch with you about the packet soon.

Bentley Like Beckham wrote:
I've heard through the grapevine that Guy is looking for a different team, so maybe that Evan Adams et al team wants me as a fourth? If not I'll continue looking for teammates with you, Greg.

That would be great Mike. I'll get in touch with you about the packet soon.

Cool. Also, sorry for bailing on you, Greg. I'll buy you lunch at CO or something.

Bentley Like Beckham wrote:
I've heard through the grapevine that Guy is looking for a different team, so maybe that Evan Adams et al team wants me as a fourth? If not I'll continue looking for teammates with you, Greg.

That would be great Mike. I'll get in touch with you about the packet soon.

Cool. Also, sorry for bailing on you, Greg. I'll buy you lunch at CO or something.

Damn, really? And it was looking so promising...

Greg Peterson

Northwestern University '18
Lawrence University '11
Maine South HS '07

Bentley Like Beckham wrote:I've heard through the grapevine that Guy is looking for a different team, so maybe that Evan Adams et al team wants me as a fourth? If not I'll continue looking for teammates with you, Greg.

Yeah, sorry for not getting back to you. It does, in fact, look like I'll be playing with someone else.

Tim Hartman (doc student at Madison but from Chicago burbs) and I (native Chicagoan) do not want to compete like last year without two other teammates, but we are working on our packet nevertheless. Tim is best at science, and I am the most competent at lit and geo. For side events, I have heard about lit and social science/philosophy. Pending room confirmation, would they run Friday, Saturday, and/or Sunday evenings/nights?

Happy Patriots' Day,
Rom Masrour
CPS/UIC

Rom Masrour
president of RomNation at the races
2011 INDYCAR, 2012 NASCAR, 2012 GRAND-AM, & 2012 American Le Mans Series hard card holder
licensed crew member for car #51 in the 2011-2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series & car #15 in the 2012 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series
"I'm glad you were at Kentucky for Ed's win instead of me."
"Rommy is better known in the paddock than half the drivers are."
"Drivers love Rommy even more than Rommy loves them."

Side Event Schedule: as of now, the only side events officially scheduled are Weiner's lit tournament on Saturday night and Andrew's trash event on Sunday. There may be a competition involving large quantities of meat on Friday night, but there will be no official CO side events scheduled for that time. There is theoretically a slot open after trash on Sunday, but I'm not sure whether that will be filled.